Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

P. MANNY, OF WADDAMS GROVE, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,985, dated April 7, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PELLS MANNY, of Waddams Grove, in the county of Stephenson and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement on Arrangements for the Adjustment of the Cutter-Bar Portion of Harvesters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exa-ct description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 represents a top View or plan of a harvesting-machine in part; Fig 2, a side elevation of the drivers-seat portion of the machine in connection with the draft devices and means for the up-and-down adjustment of the iront portion of the main frame; and Fig 3, a similar view, showing said adjusting devices in a different position.

So varied have been the draft arrangements of harvesters, the position of the drivers seat and devices within convenient reach of the driver for regulating by foot vor hand the np-and-down adjustment of the front portion of the main .frame to enable the cutter to clear obstructions, Src., that in the following description of the arrangement represented in the accompanying drawings only cursory reference can be made to what is old and apparently bears more intimatelyupon the present arrangement. i

The draft-pole a is rigidly attached at its back end to the front end of an elastic shoe, b, which passes under the finger-bar c, and is hinged at its rear end by a joint, d, to the main lrame A at a point back of the linger-bar and in front of the driving-wheel B.

'lhe drivers seat O, I arrange back of the driving-wheel, in which position it has before been arranged, and is here so situated partly forthe greater convenience of the driver in his regulation of the automatic rake I), and partly for other reasons, one of which will be apparent from the after description of the devices by which the driver regulates the up-and-down adjustment of the front portion of the main frame. This seat Gis represented as placed on the back end of a spring-board, e, the front end of which is secured to the front end of the main frame above the elastic shoe b, the said board extending upward as well as backward from the front of the main frame.

The automatic rake D represented here is the same as that described in a recent patent granted me therefor, and it is only necessary here briey to refer to its action, which is as follows: The rake-head is pivoted at its one end by pin fto an arm,g, extending, it may be, over the spring-board supporting the drivers seat, and attached at its inner end to a lever, h, which has occasional up-and-down play given it, that, in connection with the reciprocation of the rake, causes the rake to swing in a curvilinear direction across the platform E, in close contiguity to the platform, from front to back, and at an increased and clearing altitude from it on returning. Under such an arrangement and operation ofthe rake, and under most, if not all, advantageous arrangements of automatic rakes, the ordinary handlever and foot devices which have heretofore been employed for lifting or lowering the front portion of the main frame within convenient reach of the driver, could not here, with the drivers seatin the position it is, well be used without interfering with the action of the rake. As a more convenient arrangement, therefore, I hinge 'to the main frame in front, by joint i, a stanchion, 7o, the lower end of which is made to bear or -rest upon the elastic shoe b in front of the linger-bar, and from which stanchion a lever or rod,-Z, is extended backward along, over, or by the side, and resting on, the seat-supporting spring-board e, to within easy reach', by hand or foot, ofthe driver in his seat O, said rod l bein g represented with its back end turned up to form a4 handle for han'd operation of the stanchion, and with a crook, s, for foot operation of the same on the driver lifting his foot or feet from the footboard w, or bending his knee, or moving his leg to effect the movement ofthe rod by pressure on or relieving pressure from the crook. This arrangementin no way interferes with the action of the rake, as would the ordinary vibrating rod or lever used to effect a like purpose. It forms a direct connection to elevate or depress the cutter-bar portion of the main frame, accordingly as the rod l is moved down or up the seat-supporting spring-hoard e, by reason of the varied altitude and position given the stanchion,v as represented'in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the lower end of the stanchion always bearing on the elastic shoe l), and acting as a stop to support the front portion of the main frame; but such a stop, as on any violent concussion of the elastic shoe b with an outside obstacle, would strengthen and support the shoe and insure a timely lift of the cutter-bar by the shoes being raised in passing over the obstacle, or, it maybe, abrupt rise in the land. Nor is the efficacy of the elastic shoe as anintermediate draft-connection impaired by this adjustable-stop arrangement, Whose connection with the shoe, by the direct bearing of the supporting and adjusting Y stanchion k on it, and pivoted, as is the shoe,

at its one end to the main frame in rear of the finger-bar and rigidly attached at its other end to the draft-pole, gives a steadiness to the draft between the pole and main frame; and the shoe thus connected, with the adjustingstanchion resting on it, serves as an easy bearing to support the front of the mainframe from undue shake or play, and, in connection with the adjusting-stanchion, forms a most direct and advantageous flexible-joint arrangement for the up-and-down adjustment of the cutter-bar portion of the machine, within easy and perfect control of the driver, without ocpole, and jointed"to the main frame in front of the driving-wheel and back of the finger-bar, the Whole being constructed for joint operation substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto Vsubscribed my name.

' P. MANN Y.

Witnesses GEO. PURINTON, L. P. CHRIST. 

